Compounded self-excited alternator.



NO 869,187. PATENTED OCT. 22. 1907. .M. c. A. LATOUR.

GOMPOUNDED SELF EXCITED ALTERNATOR.

AIPLIOATION FILED AUG. 8, 19Q3. BEHEWED FEB. 27, 1907.

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I 11 l 1K 3 ii B A v l I C I Witnesses: Inventor:

0 v I i j d g: marlus Charles flrthgr Latovsr MT by MW No. 869,187. PATENTED OCT. 221907. M. C. A. LATOUR.

COMPOUNDED SELF EXCITED ALTERNATOR. nrucnxox nLnn AUG. 0.100s. -nnwnn In. :1, 1001.

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Inventor: z i Ma-r-iusCharlesJ r-thur Latour;

UNITED STATES PATENT orrron.

MARIUS CHAR LES ARTHUR LA'IOUR, or SEVRE COMPANY, A CORPORATION OF NEW YORK.

s, FRANCE, ASSIGNOR To GENERAL ELEoTaio COMPOUNDED SELF-EXCITED ALTERNATOR.

Specification of Letters Patent;

Patented Oct. 22, 1907.

Original application filed July 9. 1901, Serial No. 67.668. Divided and this application filed August 8. 1903'. Serial No. 168.760-

Renewed February 27, 190'].- Serial No. 359|61L To all whom. it may concern:

Be it known'that I, llARlUS Gnamins AnTnUn LA- TOUR, a citizen of France. residing at Sevres. Department of Seine-ct-Oise, have invented certain new arid useful Improvements in (Fomponnded Self-Excited Alternators, of which the lollowing is a spccilicat ion.

This case is a division oi my application, Serial No. 67,668, filed July 9, 1901. i 'lhisinverithm has foritsobject certain improvements in compounded self-excited alternating current maexcitation'currents are taken from the stator terminals or from a portion of the stator winding and the currents for the scrieswinding are the main currents induced in the stator and conducted through the rotor lit/fort pass ing to the transmission or feeder circuits. This shunt and series excitation'is used for the purpose of obtaining an alternating current generator whose voltage at terminals will not vary with variations in the non-inductive and inductive loads on the machine. v Figure 'I. shows diagrammatically a three-phase. compounded alternating current gOHOIittOF with double winding and two commntators. andlrig. 2. is a diagram of connections'of the machine shown in Fig. 1. Fig. 3

represents a'machine with series excitation by means of special transformer, and Fig. 4 is a diagram of connections of this machiim. Fig. 5 represent the simplest form of my compounded alternating current generator the electric connections oiwhich are shown in Fig. (i. Fig. 7 is a diagram illustrating the general principle on which the construction of my improved alternator is based assuming that two-phase currents and a bi-polar machine are being dealt with.

'Reicrring now to Figs. 1 and 2 Ihavc shown this machine and its connections to illustrate the most evident manner of compounding an alternating current gener- 40 ator by thense of a double rotor winding and two scparate commutators. It is only necessary to arrange mattors in such a way that the ampere-turns oi the series excitation circuit of the rotor shall be equal to those of v the stator in order to nullify the so-called armature reaction of the induced member or stator, in magnitude,

form and direction The series excitation flux must evidently be opposite in direction to that created by the stator turns and this can be arranged by suitably placing the brushes on the commutator as is done in direct current machinery, for example. as proposed in tho compensated direct current dynamos of H. J. iyau.

The shunt winding of the rotor is conuu'ted to the stator terminals and supplies a constant excitation practically independent of variations in load. It is evident that a machine arranged as above described will automatically compound for variations in the noninductive and inductive loads in 'the several phases separately.

The. fundamental principleof the excitation of my alternator may. becxplained as follows: Referring to Fig. 7. assume a stationary ring A with closed circuit winding the conductors of which are lziid bare on the periphery so as to form a commutator to be placed within a homogeneous magnetic medium such-as a ring B of soft iron, from which it is separated only by a small air 1 gap. To four brushes 0 (I if set 90 apart from each other. let two phasc currents of frequency 14. be supplied; the brushes 0 a, for instance, serving for the passage of the current l sin 2 Tr'w I. and the brushes 1/ fior the passage of the current I cos 1 7f .11. I. A magnetic (inn is thus obtained in the ring A and mtating therein with an angular velocity equal to in. The rotation of this flux involves los. sin the iron ring due to hysteresis and Foucault currents and this rotation is further rendered evident by the creation of a reactive F. M. F. at the brush terminals 0 rl c f.

With the ring A stationary and neglecting, for the present the possible sparking at brushes c If e f. assume these four brushes to be rotated in a. direction opposite to that of the rotating flux and at an angular velocity equal to u; we shall, by this means immediately insure the fixation of the magnetic flux with respect to the ring A. In this case there will be no losses caused by hysteresis or Foucault currents and the ring may then be either solid-or laminated.

It is still more,remarkable that the system shown in i Fig. l is devoid of sell-induction when excited by polyphase currents. owing to the iact lhatthe brushes are rotated. As a. matter of fact the resulting magnetic flux becoming stationary relatively to the conductors of the ring Ait cannot therctjore induce any [5. M. F. whatsoever in these conductors. All induction phenomena therefore disappear and the voltage between the brushes becomes equal to the ohmic drop in ihc winding of the ring. In other words. the system. although it enablcs an inducing flux to be obI-aincd does not take wattless currents from the source of three phase currents and, in the system under consiilcrih tion. the bi-polar inductor is excited by alternating currents at unity power factor. If instead of rotating the brushes; we leave them stationary, and. cause the ring A and its winding to rotate with the speed of s \'nchronism, we have an inducing system revolving in space after the fashion of the inducing ['u-ld of an alternator with fixed arnniturc. V

l have, in the foregoing description. reserved the In discussiiig the question. of coma it it m necessaryto introduce therein the'notion of the selfinduction of the sections of the winding short-circuit ed .under' the brushes,.wlienever the'resulting magnetic flux is fixed in position, magnitude and form relativelyto' the rotor,*that isto say,- whenever 'thefuni damental flux is not complicated by harmonic variations. thereof." sparkless commutation may be eX- fplainedf either byreference' to the phenomena of self} induction'in the-section shortcircuited under the brushes or by'the aid of the assumption of fixityoi magnetic flux inthe commutate'd rotor winding. It

is evident that either'oue of these two hypotheses may be used independently of the. other'and furthermore that it is unnecessary to make use of both.. I prefer to explain the sparkless commutationofthe rotorjof my improved alternator by means of-the latter assump tion, that is, fixity of magnetic flux.

Let us now place the bipolar field magnet of Fig. 1' (which we shall refer to as the .rotor -)-in the stator. of a-bipolar p' phase alternating currentmachine and let us'suppose that the excitation is produced with ''pphase currents. The rotor, turning with an angular speed equal to wand being separately excited from any convenient source, .will induce, necessarily a certain potential difference between the termi'nals of the stator. These potential differences will have a frequency equal to 5w; and they could therefore be used, if we choose, for the excitation of the rotor Itself, in other words, we couldiobtain, in this manner,

self-excitation." For this purpose it is necessary at .first that, as in a continuous current dynamo, theinduced voltage be just equal to that selected for the exmitation, and it is furthenrequired that the induced E. M. F. be in phase with the E. M. F. maintained between the brushes by the source of separate excitation.

' angular advance in "the di'rectionof rotation of the,-

- itself in space and the induced E. M. F. will advance We will now explain in what manner the, concordance of the phases can be insured by asu'itable angurotor,.the inducing field. in-the rotor will advan ce on correspondingly in time. 'The converse phenomena will occur if the brushes are displaced backwards, that is to say, in thedir'ection opposite'jto-the. movement of the rotor. There is therefore .a'position'ot the brushes -,in which the concordance-of thephases'between the E. M; F. of the stator and theE. between the brushes of the rotor is insured. This concordance be I ing possible, a self excited alternator may be obtained by thesuppression' of the separate sourceof excitation, thebrushes being of course their connected to the terminals of the stator. I i

If th e excitation is taken'directlysat the terminals-of the stator, even for the low. voltage of 110 or 220 volts,

.a winding of fine wire and of a great number of turns per commutatorsegment is required. The influence the harmonic magnetic fluxes on the commutation would then become very important and i'urtherimne the winding would be impracticable.

Residual magnetism generally sufiiccs for starting the machines of Figs. 1, 3 and 5 andxthcy then operate as .three-phase automatic compounded alternators with i their rotors excited by alternating currents.

When the stator gives out current, the phases of the e. HL'fS. at the terminals of the stalpr are modified in i time and for the purpose 0i liifl-illhllillllll iill l'lli iiiiliiii iii the magnetic field flux synchronous rotor, it is necessary to displace the brushes in the direction of the movemerit' of the rotor. I,

' When the brushes are not sufiici'ently displaced to obtain synchronous rotation of the magnetic flux relatively to the rotor the frequency of the stator currents decrease in a definite manner and themagnetic flux rotates less I rapidly than the rotor.

the rotor. 'In anyycase the angular position of the brushes. which insuics the absolute fixity of magnetic flux relatively to the. rotor; may-be compared to the position of the brushes'ina shunt wound direct current dynamowhenever the brushes are fixed at right angles to the resiiltant magnetic flux of thearmaturc and of the fields, beeauseibo'th these angulardisplacements corrc-' spond to zero flux variations in the sections of the rotor winding short-circuitedby the brushes andconseduently to sparklesscommutation.

l t is advantageous to'operate my improved altcrnators with the magnetic flux and the rotor in absolute syn.- chronism when the machine is carrying full load, but 1 wish to claim not-only t ose machines which runat absolutely synchronous speed, as above. defined, but alsothose machines whichrun at nearly synchronous speeds, the degree of departure from synchronous speed being of the order of the slip machines. It is, of course, to be understood, that the slip may be positive, or negative. Furthermore, amachine built iii-conformity with the present description cannot run at any and all speeds but must operate at or very near the synchronous speed as above defined; i It is evident that it will not be very practical, except in low voltage machines of small current output, to introd one the induced statorcurrents directly into the rotor. I.theref0re propose'to' make use of'series current transformers K connected, as shown in Fig. 4, in the "stator ci'rcuitof the'series wound machine of Fig. 3. .By this means I can avoid the'ditficultics consequent --upon' the introductionpfhigh voltage or large ampere currents into the rotor windings through the brushes and commutator thereof. l If, in a shunt machine, the brushes are properly set to produce a synchronous rotation 'of the rotor flux and the rotor body, and if means are provided for neutralizing the armature reaction, so as to lar position of the brushes. By-.giving the brushes an flux will rotate, synchronously withlthe rotor body for inductive. That is, to obtain synchronous operation in a compound machine at all loads, the brushes delivering th'e 'shunt excitation to the rotor winding must be properly placed .to give synchronous operation at no load,

, properly placed to. neutralize completely the armature reaction, Evidently, if the proper positions for both with respect to the in well designed induction prevent a shifting offthe, phase of the flux as the load varies, it is evident that the I If, on the contrary, the brushes are displaced too far, the flux rotates more rapidly than vall l'oads,'and the rotbr circuit will be at all times nonand the brushes dolivcring the series excitation must he sooner shuntand seriesbrushes were the same,'a single set of brushes couldbe used for botheircitations. By placing inductances in 'circuit with the shunt excitation, the proper position of the shunt brushes could be shifted to make it the same as the proper position of the series brushes. 'This is exactly the efiect obtained in theatrangement of Fig. 5, since the secondaries of the series transformers act as inductances in circuit with the shunt excitation. Consequently, a single set of brushes and a single rotor winding' sufiice for obtaining synchronous operation with the arrangement of compounding or compensating transformers shown in 5. The magnetic flux of the rotor will now rotate synchronously with the iron of the rotor at all loads in view of the automatic compounding oi the series excitation whereby the arms;- ture reaction of the stator is compensated forin magni tude, 'directionand form by the series ampere-turns flux of the rotor.

What I claim as new and desire to secure by Letters Patent of the United States is: v

1. A self-excited compounded alternator comprising an induced member and an inducing member, the latter consisting of a direct current armature wound with several separate circuits connected to their. respective commu-. tators, the magnetic flux of the inducing member being obtained by means of currents derived from the stator or induced member terminals and constituting the shunt excitation and by means of the main currents of the stator or induced member, said currents passing directly through the rotor or inducing member windings or indirectly by the interposition of series current transformers.

2. A selfexcited compounded alternator comprising an inducing and an induced member, the first consisting of a direct current armature wound with a single winding connected to a commutator through which are caused to pass the shunt excitation ,current derived from the stator or induced member terminals and the series excitation currents derived from the main currents of the induced member by the interposition of special series current transformers sub stantially as hereinbefore' described.

3. in an alternating current generator, a field having a distributed winding connected to a many-part commutator. and means for supplying the said windlng'polyphase currents taken part in. derivation from the armature, and part in series with the line.

4. In an alternating current generator, a field having a c transformers connected and arranged to impress on said brushes superimposed voltages corresponding in magnitude respectively to the armature voltage and to the armature current. p l

6. In combination, a seifexciting alternating-current generator having two members, each provided with a distributed winding, oneof said members being m'echanically driven, polyphase connections between said windings, a

'load-circuit supplied with current from said generator, and means responsive to variatibn in load for controlling the excitation of said generator.

7. In combination, an alternating-current generator COiIiprising relatively rotatable members one of which is me chanicaliy driven andeach of which isprovided with a. distributedwinding, a commutator for one of said wind ings', brushes bearing on said commutator, polyphase connections for supplying an exciting current through said brushes to :the winding connected to the commutator, a load-circuit supplied with current from said generator. and means for compounding the generator for variation of load.

S. In combination, an alternating-current generator comprising relatively rotatable members one of which is me chanically driven and each of which is provided with a distributed vinding, a commutator for one of said wind lugs, brushes bearing on said commutator, polyphase connections for supplying through said brushes to the winding connected to the-commutator an exciting current depend ent updnthe voltage of the generator, :1 load circuit sup plied with current from said generator, and means re the exciting current supplied through said brushes.

9. The combination with an alternating-current electric circuit, of an alternating-current dynamo-electric machine comprising two relatively movable windings, the saidlwindings being adapted to have one of said windings, traversed by alteruatlng-urrent, induced currents in the other of said windings whereby a field will be produced by the latter current which will move asynchronously with relation to the field produced by the first mentioned current, and means for supplying current, proportional to the current in said alternating-current circuit, to said other winding whereby the demagnetizing action of the first mentioned current is opposed, substantially as described.

circuit, of an alternating-current dynamo-electric machine comprising two relatively movable windings, the said Windings being adapted to have one of said windings, traversed by alternai'ing-urrent, induce currents in the other of said windings whereby a field will be produced by the latter current which will move asynchronously with relation to the field produced by the first mentioned current, means for exciting said other winding by current at a substantially constant potential, and means for supplying current, proportional to the current in said alternatlng-current circuit, to said other winding whereby the demagnetizing action of the first mentioned current is opposed, substantially as described.

11. In a single or polyphase alternating-current motor or generator, the combination with brushes, and a commutater, of a main stator winding. a winding connected to said commutator, a circuit connected in series with said stator winding and to said brushes,,ctor the purpose 0! supplying to the rotor a component increasing oildecreasing with the main current to annihilate the armature reaction of the working current, and an auxiliary winding of senstantiall y as described.

' In'witness whereof I have hereunto' set my hand-this 20th day of July, 1903. r

Anoos'rns'E. Ixonaiu.

sponsive to variation in load [or varying the amount ofslbly constantpotential connect edto said brushes, sub- 

